BALTIMORE (WMAR) — A Baltimore City Police detective is pleading guilty to lying to a federal grand jury about a case involving the former Gun Trace Task Force.
The Feds allege 12-year veteran Carmine Vignola was the officer with Sergeant Keith Gladstone the night of March 26, 2014 when he planted a BB gun on a suspect who had just been arrested by the now incarcerated Sergeant of the defunct GTTF, Wayne Jenkins.
According to charging documents, Vignola testified he and Gladstone were on-duty eating dinner, when Jenkins called Gladstone to tell him that he had run over a suspect.
Gladstone asked Vignola if he had a BB gun, but when Vignola said no, Gladstone told him to call his partner identified only as "Rob" in court documents, who was off that night to see if he had one.
"Rob" apparently told Vignola that he did have a BB gun.
Both Gladstone and Vignola then quickly left the restaurant to go pick up the gun from "Rob" and then raced to Anntana Avenue and Bel Air Road where Jenkins ran over the suspect.
It was this chain of events prosecutors accuse Vignola of lying about.
During testimony, Vignola told a grand jury he and Gladstone went straight to the scene and not to "Rob's" home first to pickup the gun.
Vignola also testified he believed the two were headed to the scene to plant the gun to justify Jenkins running over the suspect.
The suspect ended up being arrested on multiple charges, including for the planted gun.
Charging documents revealed Vignola and Gladstone met in January 2018 at a YMCA swimming pool near Gladstone's Pennsylvania home to talk about the incident.
RELATED: Former BPD officer indicted for helping GTTF member plant evidence
Gladstone told Vignola during the meeting, that if he was ever asked by prosecutors where they got the BB gun, to tell them it came from Gladstone's trunk, not Rob's house.
Vignola also was told by Gladstone to deny he had ever been at the scene, but Vignola felt another officer saw him there and was also concerned about "Rob" knowing.
On March 1, 2017 Jenkins and six other GTTF members were arrested on Federal racketeering charges. All have since either plead guilty or been convicted and are currently serving anywhere from 7 to 25 years in Federal Prison.
Gladstone was also indicted back in March for the planting incident with Vignola.
Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby is vowing to overturn nearly 800 GTTF related convictions , for arrests similar to this one that appear to be tainted.
Vignola is scheduled for a 2:15 p.m. rearraignment on September 23 at the Federal Courthouse in Baltimore before Judge Catherine Blake.
To read more on the GTTF click here .
